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Postmodernism Short Notes

Postmodernism refers to the cultural characteristics of Western societies following Modernism, marked by changes in literature, art, and philosophy since the 1950s. It is often a reaction against Modernism, featuring non-traditional literature, experimental techniques, and a blending of genres like magic realism. Postmodern works tend to be fragmented, ambiguous, and open to multiple interpretations, reflecting a decentered individual and a skepticism towards traditional artistic values.

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509 views2 pages

Postmodernism Short Notes

Postmodernism refers to the cultural characteristics of Western societies following Modernism, marked by changes in literature, art, and philosophy since the 1950s. It is often a reaction against Modernism, featuring non-traditional literature, experimental techniques, and a blending of genres like magic realism. Postmodern works tend to be fragmented, ambiguous, and open to multiple interpretations, reflecting a decentered individual and a skepticism towards traditional artistic values.

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Postmodernism (Short notes)

Postmodernism is the term applied to the cultural features characteristic of Western


societies in the aftermath of artistic Modernism. It is generally referred to the
changes, development and tendencies which have taken place in literature, art,
music, architecture, philosophy etc. since the 1950s. Postmodernism is not only
different from modernism but even a reaction against it. However, there is never a
neat demarcation line between modernism and postmodernism. In most cases, the
artistic or literary works described as 'postmodernist' are really a continuations of
the Modernist tradition.
Nevertheless, some general literary features of the period have been identified. For
instance there is literature that tends to be non-traditional and against authority.
Here, one may cite experimental techniques in fiction as displayed in the nouveau
roman, a type of French novel. In some cases these looked perilously close to
gimmickry. It is prose fiction that is held to exemplify the postmodernist mood or
style, notably in works by American novelists such as V. Nabokov,J. Barth, T
Pynchon, and K. Vonnegut, and by the British authors J. Fowles, A. Carter, S.
Rushdie, J. Barnes, P. Ackroyd, and J. Winterson. Outside the English-speaking
world, the fictions of J. L. Borges and the later work of I. Calvino show similar
tendencies. Another distinctive style used in fiction is the mingling of realistic with
the unexpected and inexplicable called magic realism. Science fiction, neo-Gothic
and horror stories gained increasing popularity.
There have also been experiments with what is called concrete poetry. In drama
one might cite experiment with form, content and presentation in such
developments as the Theatre of the Absurd, Total Theatre etc.
Other discernible features of postmodernism are an eclectic approach and its
tendencies to parody, pastiche, scepticism, irony, fatalism, the mixing of 'high' and
'low' cultural allusions, and an indifference to the redemptive mission of Art as
conceived by the Modernist pioneers. Postmodernism thus favours random play
rather than purposeful action, surface rather than depth.
The emergence of Marxism, feminist and psychoanalytic criticism since the 1970s
is yet another aspect of postmodernism.
Thus, Postmodernist works are mostly fragmented and do not easily or directly
convey a solid meaning. These works are consciously ambiguous and give way to
multiple interpretations. The individual or subject depicted in these works is often
decentred, without a central meaning or goal in life, and dehumanized, often losing
individual characteristics and becoming merely the representative of an age or
civilization, like Tiresias in The Waste Land.

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